A Chaffetz Run for House Speaker Would Cause More Chaos, Says Orrin Hatch

Long-time Senator and Establishment Republican Orrin Hatch said that Rep. Jason Chaffetz’s (R-UT) campaign to run for House Speaker drives Congress deeper into chaos.

Currently, Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) is the Republican favorite to win the House Speaker job, but Chaffetz’s campaign is likely to weaken some of McCarthy’s support. McCarthy is currently dealing with the controversial admission that the House Select Committee on Benghazi was created to politically harm Hillary Clinton.

“[It] is, in my view, a pretty bad thing,” said Hatch. “The more the House stays in chaos, the worse it will be.” Both McCarthy and Chaffetz are quite inexperienced, which could work against either candidate for House Speaker, said Hatch.

“What will be held against him by some is he has only been in Congress for a short period of time, and may or may not have built up enough cachet to be the speaker,” Hatch said.

“McCarthy hasn’t been here that long either, but he’s been here longer than Jason,” Hatch added. “It does take a lot of experience to be able to run some of these things. Just look at Sen. (Mitch) McConnell: He’s a master.”

The Establishment’s rivalry with the conservative fringe of the Republican party has been raging for several years now. They can’t win next year with that much division.

For more on this story, visit Talking Points Memo “Hatch: Chaffetz’s Speaker Bid May Send Us Even Deeper Into ‘Chaos’”

Farron Cousins is the executive editor of The Trial Lawyer magazine and a contributing writer at DeSmogBlog.com. He is the co-host / guest host for Ring of Fire Radio. His writings have appeared on Alternet, Truthout, and The Huffington Post. Farron received his bachelor's degree in Political Science from the University of West Florida in 2005 and became a member of American MENSA in 2009. Follow him on Twitter @farronbalanced